Independence Twsp. Reassessment for tax year 2014
Just received in the mail today that the township will be reassessing properties over the next few months. Appraisal Systems haa been contracted to do the reassessments. New property values will be determined based on their estimated market value as of October 2013. I saw in the Warren Reporte a few weeks ago in the Public Notices section that the township committee awarded them the contract at $100,000. Damm, I just replaced my deck and landscaping in the last month and a half.
kb2755 
Reggie Voter 
joyful Be sure they have your correct information. The guy who came here said he was basing my assessment on a house which sold on Rt.517. That house was a ranch built in the late 70's. He said my house was built in 1970. I relayed to him that I bought the house in '69 and it was an old house back then and it's a cape cod. I don't know where he got his info, but he really took advantage of my situation. I have a one bedroom house, my neighbor has 4 bedrooms, but they didn't allow him to go upstairs. They have more acreage than I do, and they were assessed at a much lower amount. The man of that home was there when the assessor came. I don't think I'll let him this year.
Ms Fishy We received it as well. I was told at the last reassessment that they come around every 10 years. I don't think its been 10 years yet, has it??? My taxes went up $2000.00 last year. What makes them think that this may help us and lower taxes. I have a bad feeling about this reassessment.
sher 
ajwDid you all get the new bill? Not happy about that either. Need to find another job for this old lady.
Ms. Fishy.. I did get my bill hence your prayers have come true :) Kidding of course.. They have gone up higher than the highest point in my house. I would like to see if this township can sell my house for the amount they have assessed. I have no knowledge of anyone coming to my property to evaluate, so I guess they must have just driven by. I have always believed that taxes are the cost of Civilization.. however now it seems that we just have to feed, clothed, and provide the shelter to the clueless.
@Sher.. Yes mine went up and pretty good climb too..
It is what it is..
Lt. Hawk I received mine a little while ago and mine went up $250.00....We are at $8600.00 and exactly kb2755 For What....
What will happen after the reassessment, how much more will they go up. I have been assessed at $390,500 since I moved into my home. I can't understand why the assessment doesn't go up, but the taxes do!!!
iJay3 If my home cannot sell for anywhere near the current assessed value shouldn't they lower it? The assessment and tax bill? Any help understanding is appreciated.
Earlier this year I appealed my tax assessment and won and they haven't taken effect yet. I'm wondering how that will affect this reassessment?
Smilingbecs A good day - No, that's not how it works. That's a common misconception and I'm sure there's some good web sites out there going into more detail. Your assessment is really in relationship to other houses of the same size, with the same land and same sq footage, etc. If you house went down in real value, the house next to you with the same assessment also would have gone down in real value to match it. So if the whole town's assessment all went down by the same percentage, then the tax rate would have to be raised by the same percentage to create the same revenue. In the end it would be the exact same amount of tax.
However, if you add an addition, or put on a deck, your house is now comparable to other houses with those features and the assessment is adjusted accordingly after the changes are inspected.
That's why tax appeals based just on real market value rarely are successful. You need to either prove your house is more comparable to other lower assessed houses, or show the data they have is wrong.
One of the best things to do is to talk to the county assessor, they have formulas for what the calculations are based on. That includes they have an idea of how the assessments compare to market value as a percentage. In today's lowering market it's not unusual for the ratio to be over 100% meaning the assessments are more than the actual sale prices.
GC Sher, Yes, they went up a sizeable amount. More than my Social Security check is a month. (and I live on a block that is in the Highlands Act, so I can't even add on, even if I could afford it)
Lt Hawk, Agreed we should be happy we have a roof over our heads, but for how long?
iJay3.....let's not forget that teachers now pay for health insurance both while they're employed and during retirement. If you are going to cast fault on people at least broadcast the right information.
hackettstowngrad geez, most people should be happy about this reassessment. if you were reassessed back at the peak of the housing boom, your house is probably not worth what is was assessed at. this reassessment will bring your assessed value back down. so why do it? because many people did appeal the assessed value after the bubble burst, and got their houses' value down. so those people have done well in saving taxes the past few years. after this reassessment, everyone will be back at equivalent footing.
oh, and why the knee-jerk teacher bashing, again? if it's so wonderful a job, why aren't you a teacher yourself? i'm not. and if you're not, then you must not think the job is worth the pay compared to what you can get elsewhere.
If you look at the bills you will see it's not the township tax that is causing the rates to skyrocket, but the school and county taxes. With the highland problems in town you would think the township wouldn't have to pay the open space tax, since we can harly build in the town now. But, no, the county says when the town asks. Just think, we didn't have to vote on the school budget this year and they sneak in all day kindergarten, which the township has voted down year after year!
Because so many people have won tax appeals in the township this assessment is the best way to level the playing field for all of us. I personally say thanks to the township committee for taking this on.
Magpie hackettstowngrad, contribution while employed is a start although over time it needs to be increased (contribution). Regarding retirement medical benefits, it should not be offered as it is too costly and usually not offered by private companies.
We received the tax bill the other day. I have it incorporated my mortgage and taxes into one. So according to this bill, my taxes went up. And I am ticked off really. It's ridiculous on the amounts we all received. I am sure it wasn't pleasant for any of you either.
city girl I thought there was a cap of 2% on the property taxes. I just went through and compared last year to this year.
Municipal: 11% increase
County: 1% increase
Library: 0% increase
Open space: 32% decrease
School: 4% increase
Independence has not been inside the cap since they came up with the cap, but they manage to give raises and hire more people every year. The school has received more money from the state and got a large amount of money back from Hackettstown H.S. from the overpayment they made a few years ago, and yet they never think to not raise the taxes. Both the former Superintendent and the current one believe that no matter how much money the state sends they will raise the taxes the maximum amount that they are allowed by law. This is what they have said. Since the school has raised the tax by 4%, don't we get to vote on the budget?
Indy2 Our houses may be lowered in value to reflect the current real estate market. I know I couldn't sell my house for it's current appraised value. But even with a new assessment, our taxes will not decrease. They still need the same amount of money to run the town. All they will do is raise the rate. Maybe there will be the few who made improvements without getting permits, but the difference to each individual will be negligible.
Tanya Yep, came to my place just a week and a half ago. Of course it was the day I decided to postpone the shower so I could do a major cleaning of the house. Just love answering the door while still in my pjs. Took less than 10 minutes if anyone was curious.
LadeeVee I think someone came to my house a little while ago, but I was in the shower. Will they come back or do they reassess from the the outside?
lynn Someone came around a few weeks ago, measured house, said if nothing changed inside tne house, he didnt need to come in. He was in & out in 10 minutes.
Iris Let me guess, you told him you just put in a gold Jacuzzi, right?
What a bone head way to do things. "Hey, do you have anything in there that would really jack up the taxes.....No, OK, gotta go now...."
And taxpayers pay for these guys to do this.....
mistergoogle I'm waiting to see how I do. I was home the day the guy came. I saw him looking around outside and I was waiting for the door bell to ring when he got into his car and left. We never spoke, so he has no idea whether I made inside improvements or not. I haven't, but he couldn't know that because he never even asked me. Our tax dollars at work!!!
they run it through a software "cotton box" using average comparables so if you have a "normal" modern average home, you'll probably do OK. It's when your home is unique, special, historic, etc. that the law of averages may not be quite on your side and you may not come out as well.
for nuts and bolts, i.e. basic assessment parameters, like floor space, number of rooms, fireplaces, etc., I think there will be a reconciliation where you can dispute the basic facts, not the assessment, but the facts going into it.
mistergoogle, I agree with your logic, and there have not been any improvements made since the last assessment, but we (the tax payers) are paying for a town wide assessment. I COULD have added a bathroom, I do have the room for it, or made some other taxable renovation. And that could have helped someone who did not make any improvement. I just learned a neighbor who made a huge inside renovation to their home had the same experience I did. The assessor did not attempt to enter their home. They were of course relieved. But what are we paying for? Is it for someone to park in the driveway of our homes and not even get out of the car?
Okay, he just left. He walked around the outside and asked to come in. I didn't care, since I haven't done anything since the last round. He was very polite, opened every door and went into the basement. That took about 5 minutes. Just glad it's over.
The company gets information from the town; construction permits that would tell them if you added a bathroom, deck, finished a basement, etc.
So most likely they will definitely visit those properties. Others will get outside drive bys and some will be asked to come inside.
nutty I just received my reassessment from Independence Twp., my house went from $420,000 down to $289,000. The letter states the multiplier will be released summer 2014.
Lower my taxes We received our assessment in the mail also. It seems to me they did not value the houses at there full value to insure in the future it would be harder to fight it. They set our assessment at 319,000 and the houses in our neighborhood have not sold for less than 330,000 and most are more than that. They probably set the assessment at 90% of the real value across the board.
Everyone I spoke with had theirs lowered. Of course the town still needs "X" dollars to run the town, plus the school, library, county, etc. Soooo, the rate has to be raised. I only hope the Mac Mansions are now valued so they pay their fair share.
cc I just checked and Zillow has us at 100.00 more than the reassessment. The taxpayers of Independence are paying a lot of money for this. We may have been snookered.
Don't get too excited. The town was flooded with tax appeals and was loosing. Then they decided to do a town reassessment. The theory is to lower everybody so they can raise the base tax rate. I am willing to bet that I will be paying the exact same amount of taxes even though my value dropped $100,000.
Batman, couldn't agree more. We won't be saving any $$$ on our property taxes. We just got our assessment yesterday and our home dropped $80,000. crazy.
azgirl69 Our was dropped $65,000. Was glad to think that my taxes would be coming down,now I'm wondering.....
Great in the meadows They will do exactly that ... doesn't matter what our properties are assessed at, the rate will be adjusted so our taxes will not go down.
puden You can get some idea of where you stand by looking at the ratios of old assessment / new assessment. If you are higher than the average then you will probably pay more - lower and you will probably pay less.
Looking through this thread:
Lower my taxes is: 289 / 420 = 0.688
cc is: 204.9 / 320 = 0.640
kb2755 is: 304 / 409 = 0.743
mine is 0.722 (doesn't look so good for kb2755 or me!)
RAD Good point, RAD. The town will increase the tax rate enough to maintain the same total tax revenue--at a minimum. If the assessments show an average decline of 30% (i.e. homes retained 70% of their value on average), then we can expect the tax rate to increase by at least 43% (.70 x 1.43 = 1.00), and the average homeowner's property tax bill will be about the same, although some of us will fare worse than others in this shakeup depending on our new-to-old assessment ratio. (There will be a quiz on this later.)
My assessment dropped from 325K to 225K (ouch) --> 225 / 325 = 0.692
NJDad Nice analytics RAD. The fact that it's not the same ratio for all says the program has other effects than overall market value decrease. There will be winners and losers --- cc will win. And yes, you and kb are screwed. Hope you scheduled the meeting because like somebody said, at these values it's gonna be real hard to appeal using the formal process.
Just got my 2015 tax bill. It went from $6800 to $8400. This shouldn't be legal. Stupid NJ taxes.
happycamper +130.00 (But then I already pay a ridiculously high amount so at least I wasn't screwed any worse by this).
Missrx Missrx; it's the tax rate; they reassess, everyone's value number changes and then they CHANGE the tax rate and apply it to the new assessment numbers. At minimum, the new tax rate against all properties will return the exact tax revenue they got in the previous year. So in the reassessment if your relative position amongst everyone else changes, so does the tax you pay --- up or down depending on whether your position moved up or down. Therefore, you can go down 10,000 in value, but if your position shifted upwards, you pay more.
However, since the township may also be charging additional tax (since it never goes down but usually goes up), the $200 might also reflect the overall increase across the board OR a greater increase (if you position moved upwards) or even a lesser increase (if your position moved downwards). In other words, your relative position against all your neighbors went down so you should pay less. However the new rate reflects an overall increase so you end up paying more, but still less than if they hadn't done the reassessment.
One hard and fast rule: no matter what the reassessment shows, the township will at minimum ALWAYS end up with the same tax revenue and probably more.
pmnsk The Independence Twsp. tax rate has increased by 36% over the last four years. Although there is a 2% cap, they use the loopholes in the law to raise the taxes as much as they want. They give across the board raises every year, including the township committee. Other towns in our area attempt to keep to the spirit of the 2% cap and give their residents a break. Liberty has actually lowered their tax rate over the last four years. Independence is taxing the middle class out of the township.
Yeah, over the years I have played this game a number of times in a number of states. The difference this time was that given generally the lower housing values post the crash against the last assessment, a number that was generated at the a housing pricing peak, that a number of these townships (using the same assessment program), not only IMHO came in low, but the number was SO much lower than the previous assessment it was hard to moan about it and probably most did not. Plus with values rising, it's going to be hard to take the formal protest route.
Wonder how many people feel that their house was assessed lower than it's worth?
I know mine was, albeit slightly.
They dropped are assessment by 140,000 and it is now 80 to 100,000 less than the houses in our neighborhood are selling for. I think they went low so there could not be any solid appeals in the future. The good thing is are taxes did go down by a whopping $400.
Joey Independence tax ?? please advise what schools we are supporting with our home taxes. Thanks.
This should be illegal and nothing will happen until everyone gets up and complains and not just on HLIFE. Question is, what can the people of this town do to stop this.My taxes went up over $3,000! How can they do that? They lowered the assessment to below market value because that is the only thing that is able to be appealed. Then turn around and jack up the rate because you can't appeal it. 2% cap yeah right! We appealed the original assessment because it was $50,000 higher than what we paid for the house in 2005. Then the assessor got all mad because everyone was appealing it. We got the taxes lowered the standard 18% they were offering but, the assessor said whatever, we are going to reassess and raise the tax rate and nobody will have any say in it.
GRRRRRR! a good day,
Our taxes pay for the Great Meadows Regional School District. That is a grade school in Liberty and a grade school in Independence and a middle school in Independence. We also pay to send our children to high school in Hackettstown.
grrrrrrr,
It won't change until enough people decide to vote for someone else. The same people are on the township committee year after year. They run unopposed. Ever since the 2% cap went into effect they have raised the taxes at a much higher rate. Here's the tax increases since the cap started.
2010- 6% increase
2011- 6% increase
2012- 11% increase
2013- 9% increase
2014- 5.5% increase
Thank you Indy2. I guess some posters may be right. They are pushing the middle class out of independence. And the retired people. Shame on them! I have worked hard all my life and done the best I could. Who will buy my home with this ridiculous tax. ?
I have been in Indy for over 45 years, and the taxes have gone down several times, with most of the same committee persons. Check with your neighboring towns, and you will find they also pay a lot of taxes. I can't move b/c my house isn't worth anything, but yes, my taxes went up too.
The only time my municipal taxes went down in the last 20 years was in 2005 when they did the last reassessment. That doesn't mean the tax rate went down, just that it was redistributed to other taxpayers. I saved about 40.00 that year on municipal taxes and the next year they went back up about the same amount.
I don't dislike the people on the township committee but they need to do more than throw their hands up in the air and say "we need to raise the taxes".
Earlier this year when the towns were doing their budgets they would go on wrnj and talk about the tax increases. I heard Liberty say they were lowering their tax rate. Hackettstown was staying within the 2% cap. Washington borough was lowering their taxes as was Washington township in Morris County. Why is it that towns all around us are making the attempt to stay within the cap, but our town is not?
Not sure I am doing this right, but here are the Independence property tax rates and hikes by year. Seems to be a sizeable difference in what Indy2 came up with. Not sure where I made the mistake to differ with Indy but perhaps someone else can look: http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/lpt/taxrate.shtml
I am guessing 2005 is an assessment year, maybe Indy2 or someone from Independence can say.
I only did Indy for Indy2 but our other townships are on this link as well. My own personal tracking did pretty much match what I found under my township when I looked there, but it was not exact.
The weird part is they have a "effective rate" table which is supposed to "normalize" the values. Indeed, we don't come off great there, but look at Blairstown. I guess that's where we need to move next.
INDY2 NJ TAX RATE CHANGE
2002 2%
2003 8%
2004 5%
2005 -47%
2006 7%
2007 5%
2008 2%
2009 0%
2010- 6% 1%
2011- 6% 2%
2012- 11% 4%
2013- 9% 0%
2014- 5.5%
Mr. G,
I'm confused. You seem to have the same numbers as I have. What is the sizable difference you're talking about? Also, what are the second set of percentages for 2010-2013? 2005 was the year of the reassessment but the taxes did not go down by 47%. I appreciate the link to the N.J. site. What they are listing is the total and not just the municipal rate. From 2010-2014 Independence township municipal taxes have gone up 36%. I would love to know what your town and others in the area have increased or decreased(Liberty) over the last four years.
Our value had been $337,600 for years and taxes have gone up every year with this last year being $7,316. Now it is valued at $242,700 and taxes are $7,346. How can taxes go up when the home value went down by $94,900??????
Joy Joy
Everyone's value went down, some more than others.
After a re assessment, the field is leveled. Some pay less, some pay more.
As the assessment values were conservative, an appeal will be tough.
Welcome to paying entitlements for public workers. Do you think it is going to curb itself in the future then you are in for a big disappointment. The only people not complaining about the tax increases are current and former public workers whom will/are pulling a pension and medical benefits...
iJay Because they increased the tax rate. We're all now paying a higher tax percentage.
The_Bishop iJay, give it damned break with the finger pointing. Public workers have *nothing* to do with the tax rate increase.
we had our house reassessed and did get our taxes reduced, but now that the tax factor is higher, we right back to where we were!! crazy. It would of been more, so its a good thing it was reassessed! but still costing us a fortune to live in great meadows!!! the town seems to always win!!
madge I couldn't agree with IJay more. I suggest everyone take a good look at the budget for Independence. Why do we pay a township clerk 90k a year plus and assistant to serve our town? That's As much as the county clerk makes and they serve 30 times the people... Oh and ours only works 4 days a week! We all read about the huge sums paid by towns for unused sick time and cringe. I and my fellow Indy residents are currently on the hook for 200k in unused time. It's got to stop!!
Take a glance at the budget.
The_Bishop: This is our mayors statement.
Dear Residents of Independence Township:
This time of the year becomes busy for the Township Committee because we must now prepare for the budget for 2014.
There are obligations to consider with pay increases to our employees, coverage of health insurance under Obamacare, pensions, etc.
We will spend time in January reviewing wish lists from our departments, and everyone is invited to participate.
These are your tax dollars at work and the Township Committee will do the upmost in managing every dollar.
In my opinion, we provide excellent services in our Township. We strive to keep that status now and in the future, and any suggestions you have will be appreciated and taken into consideration.
Indy2: I think I get it: I was looking at the property tax rate and you were looking at something called municipal. Since at the State level, I pay income and property, not sure what municipal is or where I pay it under income and property. What is municipal?
And the table didn't work, The first column is the "municipal" rate change for Indy2; the second column was the property tax; so where's there's only one number it's property and where's there's two, the first is yours, the second mine. If municipal = property, one of us has a math mistake for years 2010-2013; the 2014 number is yours. Does that make more sense? Sorry, the table just didn't format the way it was entered.
Taxes did not indeed go down by 47%; only the rate did. Because of the reassessment, some paid more, some less, but overall the township still brought in the same amount or more, probably more. I have not seen 2014 property tax rates but I am sure they will change dramatically in any of the reassessed townships.
That's one reason they had to do the reassessment. With values plunging the way they did, anyone who bought their house post 2008 or after the price crash was valued for property taxes way low compared to existing 2005 higher home tax valuations so they were paying far less tax than the average comparable house purchase pre 2008 in Indy. Plus any pre 2008 purchaser could easily win a tax appeal because current comparable prices are in the toilet. So, they reassessed to level the playing field. What that means is that anyone who purchased post 2008 who paying on those lower price/assessment values (versus average Indy assessment), probably has a similar home value post the reassessment BUT a sizeable tax increase. Perhaps fair, but what a bummer of a surprise.
In the "olden" days, for tax purposes, houses were valued on a really old set of values, like say 1965, so your 2000 home purchase would have a 1965 valuation for taxes that was really, really, really low. It was an artificial price but a fixed valuation system that was fair to all. Then they moved to a "present market value" system which was fine given minimal price increases. New buyers thought it fair enough since the assessment equaled what they paid and existing buyers saw a tax value that was increasingly lower than the current comparable value so thought it cool too. But really sucks when the market price suddenly shifts by 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% etc. downward. Then new buyers are still happy, and questioning why everyone is complaining about high property taxes cuz they getting a pretty good deal, but existing owners are wondering why they are paying taxes on a house worth $330,000 with 2005 tax assessment of $475,000.
Perhaps the old assessment value system was better; at least it was not affected by sudden pricing shifts.
My tax bill went up by nearly 2K. I am not at all happy about it but I do realize that the portion of my tax bill that goes to Indy is very small. The largest percentage is the Schools followed by the County tax. No matter what the Committee does, they don't
control the Schools (I realize that they have to "approve the budget" but even if they don't, it goes to Trenton to override the Committee.) nor do they control the County Freeholders. Throw the Highlands Act into the mix (with respect to building non-residental rateables) and I am afraid that this will never end.
summerhelp Where is the information regarding town council salaries? Do they receive benefits as well?
Mr.G,
Thanks for the explanation. I understand now what you meant about the numbers being different. My numbers come from our actual tax bills and from the budgets. I'm not sure if every town does it the same, but once a year we get a statement from the town called the final tax bill. It lists out where the taxes are going and the percentage per hundred of value. The first one on the list is our municipal tax. That's Independence township. It looks like this.
Municipal tax .498
County tax .722
County Library tax .058
County Open Space .049
Regional School tax 1.700
Total Rate: 3.027
I know that the municipal taxes are not the biggest part of the tax bill. The school and county are higher. The problem is that our town is making no attempt to abide by the 2% cap. They use the loopholes in the law to raise our taxes over 36% over the last four years. I did a quick calculation of what the difference would be if we had only gone up 2% per year. The amount came to approximately 240.00 per year. Over the four years that adds up to almost 1,000 in extra taxes.
Indy Question,
Go to the Independence township web site and click on municipal information. From there you can get to the budgets for the last 7 years.
http://independencenj.com/
On sheet 12 it lists the pay for the Mayor and town council. 20,485 in total. I don't know if they also get medical coverage. You would have to ask at a meeting or call the Mayor.
Bob Giordano 852-5777
Can someone explain how the 2% tax cap is supposed to work because my taxes definitely just went up more than 2% in Allamuchy?
We had a $3,000 increase last year due to reassessment and now another $500 increase this year just because the tax rate went up. Something has got to give in this state sooner or later or nobody will be able to afford to live here.
Since I really just pay the bottom line, as in the total rate I showed, the incremental elements are less important to me; the numbers I indicated are the ones that the 2% applies to. Additionally, if a township has a year with a less than 2% increase, they can "bank" the difference, and apply it over the next two years; thus the 4% in 2012.
The elements between the lines, like the municipal rate, can change, but the total MUST hit 2% so if muni went wildly up, then some other sub-element got squat.
There are ways around it but not by taxes. It would be by a 60% vote or by other fees and levies, not by tax.
Oh year, there is one other way at the State Level: the Christie no tax except the tax you didn't see me tax you: http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/04/fooling_the_taxpayers_on_tax_cap_municipal_mergers_editorial.html
There is also a recommended way out: MERGER, MERGER, MERGER. And let's pick a good township with higher housing values.......
Lastly, you property tax did not go up 36% during the last four years. If the municipal did, it still did not affect the total. IF you saw increases, it was either via loss of property tax rebate or something else, but not the tax rate. At least I am pretty darn sure.
Mr.G,
The 2% cap applies to all elements that make up the property tax bill individually. If the county tax only goes up 1%, Independence can't take the 1% and go up 3%. It doesn't work that way.
Independence municipal taxes in 2014 are: 2,497,222
Independence municipal taxes in 2010 were: 1,833,185
2,497,222-1,833,185=664,037 664,037divided by 1,833,185=0.3622313%
I never said my property taxes went up 36%, I said my municipal taxes went up 36%, which they did.
You don't have to believe what I say if you choose not to but I have verified all of this with the state and they confirmed my numbers. Because of the loopholes, there is nothing the state can do. But the taxpayers of Independence can do something. They can speak up. The committee knows there will be complaints when the tax bills come out in July, but most people will have forgotten about it by Dec. and Jan. when they are crafting the next budget. That is when it is important to go to the meetings and let them know how you feel about them exceeding the cap.
Indy2: I think we agree but are looking at different tax components; the 2% cap relates to the total property tax which is made up of the sub-elements you listed of which you are most interested in one element: the municipal tax. The 2% cap on the total property tax can not be breached except 1) if 60% of the voters agree or 2) past years were less than 2% spread out as noted above. I do not believe there are any caps on the sub-elements like the municipal tax. Matter of fact, each township may have very different sub-elements too.
The rest of the process at the sub-element level is mirky; but I think first, each budget "entity" comes up with a budget for their needs. Thus the muni budget deriving the muni tax rate sub-element of the property tax can change must more than 2% depending on their "needs." And I think you have noted how to affect that process in Independence by affecting the local municipal budget process.
But then it gets a little cloudy, because each sub-element budget/tax rate needs to be added together to come up with the total property tax rate which can not increase above the 2% cap, with exceptions as noted above, and I believe there is some sort of governmental "oversight" committee and process to make that happen. In other words, I think there is a second stop before the tax rates sub-elements go final. Anyone know anything about this "oversight" process and potential citizen involvement? (or how do the sub-elements get together to agree on the final "mix?"
Also, municipalities can skirt the 2% by levying service fees, licenses, etc. So we can expect that services previously covered by taxes will move to a fee basis over time. For example, there is a free notary service at the township building; one can see a service fee in the future to free up tax dollars. Not saying it will happen, just a concept example which might get kind of crazy if we all start getting a snowplowing bill for services.........
So Indy2, it's not that I don't believe what you say about municipal tax increases in Independence. But as a sub-element of the property taxes, I have only focused on the total bottom line, the property tax, and there I am saying we are within the 2% cap given the "averaging" allowance for the years 2008 - 2013.
One thing that will be interesting is how the 2% cap works post the reassessment process. As I noted before, the property tax rate fell 47% last time although the tax revenues were probably equal or greater to the previous year. That's because we shifted to a fair market value assessment model and individual assessments increased a lot. This time since the assessment values were dramatically lowered, the property tax rate % increase will be well above 2% even if the tax revenues themselves are at the 2% increase level.
Just don't know whether they play the percentage or numerical game as a cap metric, guessing it's going to be numerical.
One other thing Indy2; that is given last winter I would guess the municipality will be looking for a big chunk to cover storm damage. Not sure how that will play out.
OK, here's some fun stuff on a county basis.
"The median property tax in Warren County, New Jersey is $5,907 per year for a home worth the median value of $307,300. Warren County collects, on average, 1.92% of a property's assessed fair market value as property tax." (OK, I just don't see the 1.92% unless they are playing with rebates and discounts.)
About 6.89% of our median income goes to pay the property tax.
"The average yearly property tax paid by Warren County residents amounts to about 6.89% of their yearly income . Warren County is ranked 14th of the 3143 counties for property taxes as a percentage of median income." Well, that really stinks because I know I can get better services for less tax dollars elsewhere.)
The only good news is that in NJ, you have to go a long way to pay cheaper property taxes than Warren County.
Here's the comparative website with lots of informational links: http://www.tax-rates.org/new_jersey/warren_county_property_tax#About
mistergoogle - I'm going to use actual numbers from my tax bill because I'm still not seeing how this is within the 2% cap. In 2013 it says my total tax was 3.047 and in 2014 it says the total tax is 3.219. That is about a 5.6% increase so isn't that well over the 2% cap for the total property tax?
Our road, Highland Rd, was in disrepair for years....storm drains leaning into the concrete pipes, as well as huge holes missing macadem were everywhere.
Spring time, the portion of Highland repaired was between #1 Highland Rd and stopped at #5, and then stopped at the corner meeting Limonite Rd.
With this TAX INCREASE, I would like to thank and ask our road department to use the snowplows more carefully...rather than hearing them land, breaking away at the Belgian Block Curbing, macadem, etc. this would become an enormous savings to our taxes/future maintenance in future years.
There are many municipalities who have incorporated solar farms to offset the energy expenses generated by our schools, municipal offices, libraries, traffic lights, etc. This is not new at all, in many states (Vt, NH, etc.)
Has this potential for savings, been explored? Grants applied for this?
Also, can someone explain how the library tax goes up....when years ago they had discussed,discussed, and discussed, etc. that that would not happen?
Is the present rental income on the old North Warren Library offsetting our expenses with the new library? Would expenses rise if we became more modern and had a library open on Sundays....Chatham does and so do other townships that serve their public.
Helen T Angry, you got me at a bit of a loss; I don't have the data. My tables come from the state (link above); seem to match other sources BUT do not include 2014. So I just can't reconcile your numbers, however the state numbers show increases: 2010 1.71%, 2011/-1.72, 2012/2.69, 2013/8.2. If we put your numbers on top, my 2013 to your 2013 is 16.5% increase and your 2013/14 is 5.64% like you said.
Therefore, if both your numbers are valid; yup, you well over 2% even if any "carry-over" available for years they didn't take the 2%. So unless a 60% voter approval for an increase, sound fishy.
I thought I saw somewhere that after the cap law, rates went up across NJ an average of 2.69% (remember carryover and voter approvals to beat the cap), and in 2012, that number was 1.7%.
So I would agree something seems out of whack in Alamuchy.
Meanwhile while we are talking tax rate, remember Christie is screwing with the rebates so if you were getting those, you could have seen quite a hit.
Our taxes were increased well above the 2% cap as well. The local tax office has informed me that the 2% cap is only on the municipal tax, and the state tax office has confirmed it. You provided the 2014 tax rate break down above. Do you have 2013 break down? I don't have my 2013 bill.
There is a town meeting on August 12th at 7:30 at the municipal building.
BS BS,
2013 tax bill
municipal .344
county .538
library .045
open space.039
school 1.201
total 2.167
The problem with comparing 2013 to 2014 is that the reassessment makes it impossible to figure out what the increase is from your tax bill. That's why you need to look at the budgets to get that information. Here is the total taxes for the last few years.
2014 2,497,222
2013 2,367,901
2012 2,169,575
2011 1,948,341
2010 1,833,185
a 36% increase over the last four years while the 2% cap was in place.
BS: It's the property tax which includes everything except sales tax and income tax. You can read it anywhere, just google it.
Indy2: the numbers you show are the Municipal tax which is NOT subject to the 2% cap; it's the PROPERTY tax, which includes the municipal tax, that has the 2% cap.
Just trying to have you appear informed when you get to the meeting. And you are correct that a reassessment year makes the analysis seemingly impossible although it would be interesting at the meeting to see how THEY conclude that they are still under the 2% cap given the reassessment; that ought to be interesting indeed.
mr. g.,
The property tax cap applies to schools , municipal and county taxes.
S29 w/GR (1R) Reduces school district, county, and municipal property tax levy cap from 4% to 2.0% and permits unused school district, county, and municipal increases to be banked for three succeeding years.*
Bills and Joint Resolutions Signed by the Governor
If you want to read the entire bill
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bills/BillView.asp
Sorry. The link above takes you to the web site. Then go to bills 2010-2011 and put in search by bill and then number S29 and you will be able to read the bill.
Indy2: I know and some districts may have other tax elements as well. The question is how does the law demand you calculate the cap. At minimum it's the total property tax rate that the cap applies to and the elements that make up the total property tax rate can waiver above and below 2% as long as the total does not exceed a 2% tax hike (given the escape clauses like banked carry-over and voter acceptance of increase).
But I really don't know for certainty whether the cap is calculated for each element across the board equally OR whether only the total Property Tax requires the 2% cap and therefore the sub-elements you not can waiver as long as the total meets the cap.
I thought it was the total, but I may be mistaken; I really looked hard but can not tell from either the law nor the coverage which "implementation" method is used.
Then there's tax rate versus total amount of tax dollars garnered. I still am pretty sure it's the tax percentage rate that matters and not the tax dollar amount. The reason I say that with some confidence is that the amounts can change dramatically with no change to rate. As in if a new development of 100 houses is completed in January, then if the rate stayed the same, the tax dollar amount could increase dramatically above 2% without any rate change. Don't think that can be the case so it just has to be the rate that the cap applies to.
Even if it is the total and Ind. has used their banked carry-over, it still seems they are over the cap by one percentage point, but not double-digits at the TOTAL Property Tax level.
If I am right then indeed it will interesting to see how they assess the adherence to the cap during a reassessment year.
OK, I stand corrected.........
The 2% tax cap IS applied to each element individually. Therefore, BS and Indy2 are right; the municipal tax IS subject to it's 2% on it's own budget, the school, 2%, etc. etc. etc. Each entity can bank it's own under-usage of the 2% for three years and there are many exclusions. So how does each entity exceed the 2% --- it's the exclusions.
For me, in my township, the good news is that with the reassessment, I will pay less taxes next year so I really don't care. However, the bad news is that I can not attack the property tax in one place except through these caps; you can only attack each entity separately as Indy2 has recommended.
The good news is that you are correct; if you numbers are right, then the municipal tax HAS exceeded the 2% cap. However, the bad news is that they undoubtedly used the exclusions to do so and therefore --- legal since minus the exclusions Indy is probably at or under the 2% cap. But you are correct, the only way to attack it is to attack the entity's budget; therefore, to reduce the property tax, you must attack each budget separately, the school, the municipality, the library, etc.
The really bad news is that since the total property tax budget cap breakage is only a percentage point or two and since my taxes went down, I know have all this knowledge in my head and it won't come out..... :>)
FYI, here's the link to Freehold's tax cap data sheet so you can see how they computed it, including exclusions. http://twp.freehold.nj.us/assets/files/budget/2014_adopted_budget_ft.pdf
I can't find the same worksheet for Indy but here is their budget and you can see the line item cap exclusions: http://independencenj.com/pdfs/2014budget.pdf and 2013: http://independencenj.com/pdfs/2013budget.pdf These should show you what is and is not included in the cap calculation.
I think you can search on "municipal data sheet independence" and add a year to see previous years.
So, bottom line is while the entire property tax rate has not increased dramatically since the cap was implemented; your Indy municipal tax looks like it has and probably due to the exclusions. But you can't attack the property tax, there is no mechanism beyond the caps instituted. You can attack each entity that makes up the property tax individually, so hope this helps and good luck in your fight.
Now since my taxes went down, if you can help me forget all this :>)
BS.
You're welcome. Are you going to the meeting on Aug. 12th? I would sure like some answers to why they can't control the budget. For instance, we have one person that works as the tax assessor and is paid (from the budget) 28,091 per year. This is a part time job of approximately 4 hours a week. It works out to 135.00 per hour. Why did our taxes have to go up 130,000 this year? What are they going to do to fix this problem of being unable to stay within the cap? Lots of questions but I don't expect them to have any answers.
mom of one Indy2, I would like to know how you found out the salary for the tax assessor. I would like to know what all the salaries are for the township but in researching this I can't find anything. I think there is a lot of wasted tax dollars and am curious to find out just where the tax dollars are going. Unfortunately, I will not be able to make the meeting on the 12th so if anyone is going please post on this forum to keep us informed.
Thanks
ajw The budgets are on the Independence township website.
http://independencenj.com/pdfs/2014budget.pdf
Sheet 12 has the salaries for the township committee and tax assessor, etc.
The data is about a year old, but you can search any public employee's salary here:
http://php.app.com/NJpublicemployees13/search.php
This includes total compensation, not just salaries from one particular town.
jjmonth4 Thank u all for ur information...it was quite interesting. A bit WOW...but somewhat understandable. It seems to me that Independence Twp offers substantially lower taxes on larger parcels of property and home sizes compared to surrounding areas. However, a realtor recently advised me that Allamuchy's taxes were lower..?? When I compared property size and home equivalence...it still seemed to me that you were getting more for your $ in Independence. I would be interested in sitting in on the meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, 8/12th... will look up what time it is scheduled for...perhaps my other half would be quite informed on the goings-ons...better than me. Thanks for all ur comments.
Noved9769 
Looks like the Independence resident at Petersburg Rd and Ryan Rd that made this sign famous a few years back is now looking for a buyer. Saw the "For Sale" signs out front this morning but oddly cannot find it's MLS listing online.
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